I Remember You

When I saw him in the grocery store I immediately recognized him. The red hair‚ face‚ build‚ etc. I almost went up to him but just couldn’t do it. As I continued getting food I kept thinking I wished I had said something to him. Well‚ it just so happened that as I was leaving the grocery store he and his little girl were right behind me. I put the groceries in my Jeep‚ turned around and went right up to him and introduced myself. He had a curious look on his face so I went on to describe the context of how we knew each other from around eighteen years ago. His face then changed expressions and he said‚ “I remember you.”

God’s Memory

“Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has borne? But even if that were possible‚ I will not forget you! See‚ I have engraved your name on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15–16). It is easy for us to forget that God doesn’t forget us. From the second we were born a crying baby till we take our last breath‚ and every moment in between‚ God remembers us. He was in the delivery room watching. He was there our first day of kindergarten watching. If we graduated high school He was there. If we married He was there. When we hurt and were alone He was and is there. When I pitched for the Detroit Tigers it was nerve-racking as I ran onto the field towards the mound to enter a game. As I stepped on the mound before I threw my first pitch I would look behind home plate and “see” Jesus sitting in the front row smiling‚ clapping and shouting‚ “You can do it‚ Scott!” That was all I needed to focus. The past fifteen years since my baseball career ended my life has been in a mysterious “on hold” phase. I had many deep things to work through‚ of which some are still being worked through today. There was a realistic component of me being “forgotten” during this time.

It seems years of chronic, painful feelings can “feel” as if they have transformed and hardened into the following apparent facts, which are false facts: “I have been forgotten.” “Everyone forgot me.” “God has forgotten about me.” We will even forget about ourself and leave parts of ourselves behind without realizing it. I had forgotten a part of myself! Recently while in my truck a song came over the radio‚ a very old song‚ these words hit me deeply‚ “Remember yesterday‚ walking hand in hand‚ love letters in the sand‚ I Remember You! Through the sleepless nights‚ and every endless day‚ I’d wanna hear you say‚ I REMEMBER YOU!” As I listened to this song I imagined Jesus tapping me on the shoulder‚ turning me around‚ smiling and saying‚ “I remember you.” From the time I was a baby boy playing baseball in diapers till I pitched for the Detroit Tigers. From the time I began preaching fifteen years ago throughout this entire “on hold” phase. From birth until I die‚ Jesus was letting me know through the explosive voice of a rock singer in a stadium filled with one person—me—that He has never forgotten me… He has always remembered me and always will! That same night I had to speak at a retirement home. I said to everyone‚ “Jesus is tapping your shoulder‚ saying “‘I remember you!'” After the service as I walked out of the chapel a young woman‚ an attendant‚ was waiting for me with an elderly woman next to her in a wheelchair. They had been several floors up in the elderly woman’s room listening to me speak through their building’s live TV program. The Lord spoke to her heart through the program and she prayed to receive Christ! She then wanted to talk to me so she came downstairs‚ wheeled the woman she was watching down to the chapel and told me what happened. It was powerful. Whoever you are‚ wherever you are at this moment‚ God has a message for you… “‘I will not forget you! See‚ I have engraved your name on the palms of my hands’…I REMEMBER YOU!“